Our third Free Clinic Event took place on June 30 and July 1, 2026, in rural Bogor, West Java, Indonesia—though getting there was a story in itself. The mission had originally been planned for Lombok Island, but after nearly a year of preparation, the required permit was not issued in time. With volunteers’ airfare and accommodations already secured, we faced a straightforward but difficult choice: cancel or rebuild. We chose to rebuild. In just two weeks, we identified another underserved community, secured the necessary local permissions, and reorganized the entire event from the ground up.
Despite the compressed timeline and unexpected relocation, the event moved forward and reached approximately 100 community members over two days. Patients received vital-sign assessments and screenings for high blood pressure, elevated blood glucose, cholesterol, and uric acid. Dr. Pyo evaluated each patient individually, and medications—including lisinopril, metformin, paracetamol, simvastatin, and amoxicillin—were provided according to their specific medical needs.
For context, our 2025 Free Clinic Event in Batu, Malang, served 426 patients with the support of 17 Pyo Clinic and PACHE (Pyo Alliance of Community Health and Education) volunteers and several local agencies. This year’s event reached a smaller, more remote population—but that came with its own value. The reduced volume allowed us to spend more time with each person, and in doing so, we uncovered a need that had not been part of our original plan.
In addition to the community patients, we were able to extend care to children living at an orphanage located right next to our event site. The orphanage provides a safe home for children who were abandoned, found living on the streets, or rescued from abusive circumstances—some as young as a few months old, others a few years old.
Among them was a seven-year-old girl who had been found on the street at around four or five years old. During her examination, Dr. Pyo identified signs of a potentially serious eye condition—one that, if left untreated, could have progressed to permanent vision loss. Because she was seen at our event, the condition was caught early enough to be addressed. Serving approximately 100 community members was meaningful in its own right, but the possibility that we may have helped preserve one child’s sight reminded us just how far a single event’s impact can reach.
Our previous missions had focused primarily on older adults and chronic health conditions. The children we met in Bogor showed us that other vulnerable groups face equally significant gaps in access to care. Going forward, we plan to broaden our outreach to serve patients across a wider range of ages and circumstances. What began as an unexpected setback ultimately reshaped how we think about who we serve—and who we should be reaching next.